Sea Watch Monday October 5, 2009

Today was the best day of the season so far at the Avalon Seawatch, both in terms of sheer numbers and diversity. 19 species of migrant waterbird were counted, including 7 dabbling duck species, and over 3,000 Cormorants.
The highlight bird of the day was a single Cackling Goose that flew over in the company of 4 Canada Geese. This was especially notable because that same (presumably) group was seen roughly 45 minutes later flying over the dike at Higbee's Beach, which is interesting in that it crossed over from the ocean side to the bay side of the peninsula at some point in between. The end of the day was highlighted by a good Heron & Egret flight that included almost 250 individuals over the last 1.5 hours. It was also the first day Laughing Gulls were noticeably moving in any kind of numbers.
Non-data sheet highlights were 2 Eastern Meadowlarks coming in off the ocean separately, 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, 7 Peregrine Falcons, 1 White-rumped Sandpiper and 5 Dunlin.
3,964 individuals were counted.

eBird list below, with migrant waterbirds in bold.
Location: Avalon Seawatch
Observation date: 10/5/09
Number of species: 55

Brant 2
Cackling Goose 1
Canada Goose 18
Wood Duck 36
American Wigeon 6
American Black Duck 10
Northern Pintail 34
Green-winged Teal 84
Dabbling duck sp. 39
Surf Scoter 9
Black Scoter 19
dark-winged scoter sp. 8
Red-throated Loon 1
Common Loon 9
Northern Gannet 79
Brown Pelican 3
Double-crested Cormorant 3193
Great Blue Heron 64
Great Egret 55
Snowy Egret 132
Little Blue Heron 12 (Townsends Inlet heron roost)
Tricolored Heron 3 (Townsends Inlet heron roost)
Turkey Vulture 15
Osprey 10
Bald Eagle 3
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 7
Semipalmated Plover 1
American Oystercatcher 11
Sanderling 250
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 2
White-rumped Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 5
Laughing Gull 162
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull 55
Caspian Tern 10
Forster's Tern 225
Royal Tern 8
Rock Pigeon X
Chimney Swift 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 6
Eastern Phoebe 1
Tree Swallow 450
Barn Swallow 2
Carolina Wren 1
European Starling X
Palm Warbler 5
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 1
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Boat-tailed Grackle 1
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 3
House Sparrow 10